The challenge of increasing solar energy conversion to a terawatt (TW) scale is brought into focus by considering three economic factors: the initial capital investment, the “expected lifetime” of the equipment and the amount of energy it provides. These factors are reflected in the financial “Pay Back Time” (PBT). Current crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar photovoltaic (PV) panels have a service life of 25 or more years and a PBT that, depending on the location where they are installed, ranges from 10 to 25 years. Many celebrated “breakthroughs” in solar energy conversion pale when confronted with economic realities: their PBT is greater than their service life. This is currently the case for technologies such as triple-junction solar cells, dye-based solar concentrators and organic PV.
To improve the landscape of solar energy conversion, it would be beneficial to provide an efficient and cost effective solar collector assembly and method for manufacturing the solar collector assembly.